Puerto Montt

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February 22, 2012

At the very tail end of our trip to Frutillar, we tried to leave. Like one tends to do at the end of a trip. But we got stuck in Puerto Montt because of volcanic ash in the sky. Lan planes weren’t flying. After various trips to the airport we finally made it out, only four days after our trip was scheduled to actually end.

We were trapped in Puerto Montt, also known as Muerto Montt in Chilean travelers circles. Though to be honest with you, I can think of way worse places to be trapped! Puerto Montt is a bigger city so it doesn’t hold the same charm as some of the other places in the South of Chile, but it has its moments :)

 

We did take advantage of being in Puerto Montt to drive around outside the city a little bit and see llamas!

 

Puerto Montt is where Chile’s infamous Carretera Austral begins. If I’d had all the time in the world, I would’ve kept driving from there and gone all the way to the very end.

 

The first stretch of the Carretera Austral is very populated, at least by comparison with the stretch outside Coyhaique where the biggest town you pass to has no more than a couple hundred people.

 

We got out to take pictures here and I saw this fisherman walking out from the sea. He was coming towards us, so we waited.

 

We struck up a conversation, of course. Now I’m kicking myself because I can’t remember his name. But he was a really kind old man. He’s been a fisherman all his life. He’s never been to Santiago and said he had no desire to. But he has three kids, one is a nurse, one is a teacher and one is a policeman. And he also has a nephew who wants to be a doctor. I told him he had an impressive family and he said, “We’re hard workers.”

 

 

 

Look how cute the sheep are!

Of course that meant Ash couldn’t resist harassing them.

Though she swears she was just trying to keep them safe from harm’s way because they were walking in the middle of the street. Thank goodness she took care of that problem.

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17 Comments

  1. Haha. Love that. :) Wow, what a great looking place. It looks so tranquil and as though you could really talk to some interesting characters there.

    Absolutely love the picture of the church. Stunning.

    Comment by Ceri — February 22, 2012 @ 11:19 pm

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    • It is stunning Ceri, you have to visit when you come to Chile!

      Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:41 pm

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  2. Oh that last photo, Kyle. Such whimsy and energy to it. What an interesting place to be stuck for 4 days!

    Comment by Roxanne — February 23, 2012 @ 12:41 am

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    • Yeah I really was happy we were stuck there for some extra time, we had fun exploring!

      Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:42 pm

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  3. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos of the fisherman. That is probably my favorite genre of photography, portraits of random interesting people.

    Comment by Dennis Pike — February 23, 2012 @ 5:38 am

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    • Agree 100% w/ Dennis

      Comment by Rita — February 23, 2012 @ 9:21 pm

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      • Thanks so much Dennis, those are my favorite kinds of pictures to take when we travel but they’re also the hardest ones to get because not everybody is down to have a camera in their face.

        Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:43 pm

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  4. I didn’t even stop for 5 minutes in Puerto Montt. As soon as my flight landed, I hopped on a bus to the center, and then 5 minutes later was on a bus to Puerto Varas. You are so lucky you had a car and could explore the surrounding areas.

    Comment by Stephanie - The Travel Chica — February 23, 2012 @ 5:59 am

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    • That’s too bad Stephanie, you missed out! But oh well, that just means there HAS to be a next time :)

      Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:42 pm

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  5. I AM DYING!!!!!!!!!!!

    OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!

    Note to self: Do not do anything potentially evil while in the presence of photographers! hahahahahahaha!

    LOVE IT. Want to go back!

    Comment by Ash @ The Middle Finger Project — February 23, 2012 @ 11:03 am

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  6. Wow the fishmerman – what an amazing portrait!

    And Ash – SO FUNNY…hahaha, Love it.

    Comment by Deidre — February 23, 2012 @ 1:32 pm

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    • She is RIDICULOUS. I mean that in the best way :)

      Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:43 pm

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  7. Love the pictures!! They are so crisp.

    Comment by Madeline — February 24, 2012 @ 7:26 pm

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    • Thanks Madelina, they are all edited in Lightroom!

      Comment by kyle — February 24, 2012 @ 7:44 pm

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  8. Haha – love the sheep! So cute

    Comment by Andrea — February 25, 2012 @ 5:02 am

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  9. divino el viejito!!!!!!! dan ganas de abrazarlo. Andre got spat (on his eye) by a llama!! haha

    Comment by Catalina — February 26, 2012 @ 11:19 am

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